National Security Fundamentals

Observing the Republican candidates for the Republican nominees–less Ron Paul who is the only honest serious person in the bunch–has been a very troubling experience.

Indeed, Senator Santorum has been so outrageously dishonest (we know he knows this stuff) that he inspired a special YouTube slam that was rapidly circulated by attentive Ron Paul admirers. You can see that VIDEO at YouTube (2:35).

There is a great deal of substance elsewhere within this web site, for example, at Governance Fundamentals. Here we provide a very fast overview of the reality that most politicians would rather not discuss: our own worst enemy is a corrupt Congress and a corrupt Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex (MICC), the same one President and General Ike Eisenhower warned of in his departure address.

FACT: 4% of our national security force (the infantry) takes 80% of the casualties and receives 1% of the Pentagon budget.

FACT: The Pentagon is optimized for “big war” and is very ineffective at small wars, stabilization & reconstruction, and homeland defense.

FACT: The Pentagon focuses only on high-level threat to humanity #4, Inter-State Conflict, and #9, Terrorism, while depriving the government and public of funds needed to address the other eight high-level threats:

FACT: The US military has at least ten times too many Generals, Admirals, and Senior Executive Service (SES) officers. It has become a bloated palace of mirrors, what one reformist calls “Versailles on the Potomac.”

FACT: The US military acquisition system is completely dysfunctional, unable to design, contract for, test, and operate a complex maritime, aviation, or ground system. This is completely apart from the corrolary fact that what the military chooses to build is defined by the MICC for profit, rather than the needs of the public and the infantry.

FACT: The US military costs the public twice as much of the annual budget as the government reports. Below is a comparison of the difference.

FACT: For one third of what we spend each year on war, we could create a prosperous world at peace.

Below are just a few substantive references. The bottom line is that the only two candidates for president that understand national security and are honest in speaking to the public about it are Ron Paul and Robert Steele.